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12/9/15 Classroom Updates

Now that Thanksgiving break has given us a little refresher, its time to see what the students have been up to and more importantly, what the future holds.

Western Civ

Our Western Civ class is now traveled across the Mediterranean Sea from Greece to the fascinating world of Rome. We learned about the myth of Romulus and Remus, twins that supposedly founded Rome, and then contrasted it to the reality of how Rome was created. From early Romans, and understanding the differences between the geography between Rome and Greece, we understood how it was so easy to unify the country. No more separate city states! Then we moved on to the man, who vini, vidi, vici, (Came, saw and conquered) Julius Caesar. From his interesting birth to his ultimate demise, we learned how who many think was Roman’s first “emperor” was actually a dictator. Now, after moving from Octavian August, Cleopatra, and Marc Antony, students are creating their own projects on Roman lifestyle. From the Roman Military, Social Classes and Architecture, students will be teaching the class in their own creative way. I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Global Studies

After finishing up the Arab Springs, we created our own political cartoons that represented what we learned. Not only did the student show their knowledge of their content, but also their creativity. Once we had completed this, we moved on to our next unit, which is the History of Iran. Not only is our class looking at the past history of Iran, we are also looking at the past relation between American and Iran. From a failed coup, the 1979 Hostage Crisis, and the current debate of allowing Iran to have nuclear energy, the student are slowly learning how tensions between these two countries has escalated over time. In the weeks following our lessons, the students will be participating in a debate addressing the important question that many politicians are asking. Should Iran be allowed to have nuclear energy? Or would that only lead to the future of building nuclear weapons? As we move on, it will be interesting to see how this debate goes, and what evidence students will be using to support their claims.

Some of the examples of the Arab Spring Political Cartoons

Comparative Religions

Marhabaan! (Or hello in Arabic) Our class is now just about to finish up our last Abrahamic religion, which is Islam. From our last class we have learned exactly what an average Muslim goes through during their lifetime. From birth, marriage and death, we have followed exactly what steps are taken in each of those important moments. We have also taken a look at the many Holy Cities, such as Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. The students then learned about the steps it takes in order to have a successful Hajj, which many did not know had to be done a certain way in order for it to count. From there we took a deep look into the interpretation of the Koran and looked at how vague it is. As we finish this unit up, we will be taking the last unit test before the holiday break, and introduce a new religion. Our first Polytheistic religion, Hinduism!

The Students interpretation of different Surah’s of the Koran (Qur’an)